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Briefs: Pomegranates, tomatoes, dark chocolate and tea may protect skin

In print: Tuesday, July 22, 2008

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Protect skin from sun: grocery shop

Dr. John La Puma suggests protecting your skin from the sun by ingesting pomegranates, tomatoes, dark chocolate and tea. On RealAge.com, the author of ChefMD's Big Book of Culinary Medicine notes that the antioxidants in those foods "can migrate to upper layers of your skin, bolstering resistance to ultraviolet damage." But you still need to use sunscreen with an SPF rating of at least 15 to protect you from UVA and UVB rays.

Poll: Most favor death to disability

About 52 percent of Americans say they would rather die than live with a severe disability, according to a survey commissioned by Disaboom.com, a Web site to improve how people with disabilities live. The survey asked, "Which would you choose: Living with a severe disability that forever alters your ability to live an independent life, or death?" According to the survey, 63 percent of people age 35 to 44 chose death over severe disability, versus 50 percent of people age 55 to 64 and 56 percent of those 65 and older.

Sound may help limit bone breaks

Researchers are borrowing from the study of earthquakes and seismology to develop a monitoring system that uses sound waves to check for tiny cracks that form in bones and can lead to stress fractures. The technology could prove valuable in protecting soldiers, athletes, dancers and the elderly from stress fractures in their feet, legs and hips.

Memory loss, fatty diet are linked

Researchers from medical schools in South Carolina and Arizona have linked memory loss to a diet high in saturated fat and cholesterol, which in other studies has led to high obesity rates. This memory loss is associated with inflammation in the brain. The study suggests that as humans age, memory may be preserved and brain functions improved by restricting that type of diet.

Prehypertension predicts later woes

Prehypertension during young adulthood is common and is associated with coronary atherosclerosis, according to researchers from the University of California, San Francisco. They analyzed blood pressure measurements of 3,560 adults ages 18 to 30 over the course of 20 years. Nearly 20 percent developed prehypertension (systolic blood pressure measurement of 120 to 139 mmHg, or diastolic blood pressure 80 to 89 mmHg). Young adults with prehypertension were more likely than those with lower pressure to have calcium in their coronary arteries later in life. Coronary calcium is a marker of atherosclerosis — commonly, hardening of the arteries — a predictor of heart attacks and strokes.

Compiled from Times staff, wires